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Baseball

Complete Coverage of College World Series Begins Saturday

34th Consecutive Year of Event Coverage Includes Use of K Zone & X Mo, “Omaha to the Bigs” Vignettes and Sports Science Features

ESPN’s record coverage of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship – all possible 153 games scheduled across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 – will culminate with the entire College World Series Presented by Capital One on ESPN or ESPN2 for the 11th straight year. It will mark ESPN’s 34th straight year at the event. Action will begin Saturday, June 15, and conclude with prime-time telecasts of the best-of-three Finals on Monday, June 24, through Wednesday, June 26.

NCAA College World Series Presented by Capital OneThis year’s College World Series includes two programs that won consecutive national championships (LSU and Oregon State); a first-time participant (Indiana); and five teams seeking their first title after multiple appearances (Louisville, Mississippi State, North Carolina, NC State and UCLA). Highlights of first-round matchups:

LSU vs. UCLA

LSU, making its 16th appearance, is tied with Texas for the second most championships by any school with six (USC leads with 12). The Tigers have won all six of its titles since 1991, more than any program in that span (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2009).

UCLA will make its second straight trip and third in four years. The Bruins, the runner-up to South Carolina in the 2010 event, are looking for their first championship in five overall appearances.

Louisville vs. Indiana

Louisville will play in their second College World Series and the first since 2007. This year the Cardinals became the first athletics program to advance to the College World Series, play in the men’s and women’s basketball Final Four, and win a college football BCS Bowl in the same academic season.

Indiana will make their first trip to the College World Series and the first for a Big Ten Conference school since Michigan in 1984.

NC State vs. North Carolina

NC State will make its second trip and first since 1968.

North Carolina, seeking its first College World Series title, will play in the event for the sixth time in the last eight years and 10th overall.

Mississippi State vs. Oregon State

Oregon State will return to the event for the first time since 2007 when the Beavers won a second consecutive title. It will mark the fourth trip in the last nine years and fifth overall.

Mississippi State will play in its ninth College World Series and first since 2007.

CommentatorsFormer Stanford pitcher, and two-time College World Series participant, Kyle Peterson will rotate analyst responsibilities with Sunday Night Baseball analyst Orel Hershiser, who has called the event since 2007. Mike Patrick, Karl Ravech and Dave O’Brien will work play-by-play. Softball Olympic Gold (2004) and Silver (2008) Medalist Jessica Mendoza will report from the field along with Kaylee Hartung.

Telestrator, K Zone and X MoESPN will introduce the ART telestrator to this year’s coverage. The tool will provide an analyst with the ability to spot-shadow players, utilize moving arrows, identify player names on-screen and more. For a third straight year, ESPN will use the Sports Emmy Award-winning K Zone technology. K Zone identifies the speed and location of a pitch in replays as well as tracks the path of the ball from the pitcher’s hand through the strike zone and numerically sequences pitches thrown.

Telecasts will also utilize the X Mo replay system that films more frames per second of action than previous slow- motion capabilities. The technology eliminates motion blur and provides the viewer with clearer images, such as ball rotation, seams on the ball, a slide at the plate and more.

“Omaha to the Bigs”The “Omaha to Bigs” vignettes will return and include a look at New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey.

Digital and Social MediaIn addition to traditional coverage, ESPN.com and other digital platforms will provide unique, original content. In addition, ESPN will post the best social photos around the College World Series sent in by fans and athletes to ESPNU.com/CWSphotos. For the fifth consecutive year, ESPN will use social networking sites Facebook (ESPNU) and Twitter (@ESPNU) to provide fans with updates and behind-the-scenes insight into the tournament.

Sports ScienceTelecasts will include several Sports Science segments, including host John Brenkus exploring if the ball with a larger seam size used in college baseball is a cause in the reduction of scoring and a look at how TD Ameritrade Park has a lower rate of home runs and runs scored compared to Rosenblatt Stadium, which hosted the College World Series from 1950-2010.